CRETE - A Year in Review

It is true that MBAs are in low demand at the moment, so I figured I would utilize my knowledge in business to become successful in the trucking industry. That is a long term plan, as I will remain a company driver for at least 5 years to pay off all debts and have no other payments when I decide to purchase a tractor of my own.

 

Sounds like you need to find another profession.

 

I'm sick and tired of people blaming truckers of fatique! While I do know that some truckers drive tired. Most of us will not. We take advantage of 10 hour breaks for that... No playing around, we take our jobs seriously and want to be alert on the road. This is one of the reasons why we do not drive through the night. We need to maintain our schedule ---by golly sometimes that is hard with delivery times being late. But that can be adjusted and we will still get sleep...

That former Crete driver CHOSE not to get any sleep and to violate his logs. He very well KNEW the laws and still broke them...It is still a choice to do what you want to do and he chose to do this. We shouldn't have to be labeled as fatiqued truck drivers.

I'm not defending the accident...It is very sad and tragic that some lives were lost. But please don't blanket truck drivers (especially Cretins in this case) just because of it.

That's my 2 cents.

 

Sounds like a good plan. It's going to be tight, but then, I'm sure you know that. Freight is down, but when the economy picks up, miles should also. Never thought I'd see the day when a college degree was just about worthless in the job market, or even worse, an IMPEDIMENT in getting a job.

 

Crete turned a blind eye to his habits.

Mr Wilkerson stated "I was on a nice dedicated run that allowed me to be home every night"...as opposed to months on the road.

Everybody did it but Crete got caught. This was an industry altering accident and running like this is no longer tolerated by Crete or anyone else that will be in business next year.

Here is the final outcome of the Crete Florida baby murderer.

http://csa2010.fmcsa.dot.gov/

This thins out the herd. NOW an estimated 175,000 CDL holders will be gone next year. AND good riddance to the dead weight bogging OUR miles down. Those of us that conduct ourselves as professionals.

 

How do I delete a post? Nevermind

 

I need to find another profession? Why? I am perfectly happy being a truck driver. I am also happy that I get paid for every minute I work. If you accept less, you have no one to blame but yourself. I will stay right where I am.

 

Glad you like your job. I like mine too.

 

If anyone is easily insulted by somewhat personal comments(without foul language) you may want to skip the 1st paragraph in this post...It has stirred a emotion based opinion...I will try to keep it from going too far down. Mod's, if it's inappropriate for this forum, I can remove it if you prefer.

In regards to your last statement pertaining to OTR - my opinion about the choice we make about driving OTR has been discussed hundreds of pages ago... as well as my opinion of local drivers, ...those want-a-be's or has-been's that call themselves drivers, but are scared to be away from mommy for more than one day at a time. So I won't go down that path...but I will peek down it for just a second. I, for one, would rather eat a bullet before disgracing myself by accepting such a degrading position... I would rather work as a door greeter at Wally, and flip burgers part time to support my family before I would ever sit behind the wheel of a local truck.

As for what was wrong with the article, let me expound!

1st of all, it said that Crete(his supervisor) pressured him into driving... I find it hard to believe. This is the 1st company I've worked for that pushes you to stay legal, instead of pushing you to run illegal. I have worked for this company for almost 6 years... that's 312 weeks or 2184 days. Including pulling for the same dedicated account this driver was on when the accident occurred. They have never asked me, pushed me, threatening me w/termination, or otherwise coerced me to run when I wasn't legal and safe!! If there were ever a problem with me doing my job because I was fatigued or ill, all it would take is making it known to dispatch that there was a problem so that they could either repower the load(if I were under one), or pass the offer to someone else...or else request an appointment change. So blaming this on the company was a chicken-*bleep* cowardly act that he used to try to get around accepting responsibility for his mistake in judgment. And he was never-----never----never over on hours! His logbook was correct, accurate and up to date. The only regulation he broke- he operated a commercial motor vehicle while ill or fatigued...Again his choice. Not Crete's.

2nd. It also stated that Crete knew about the hours issue months or years before this, and chose not to do anything about it... Again...he wasn't in any way in violation of the Federal HOS regulations. So hours were not an issue in this case...In fact, even before this accident, Crete has been one of the strictest companies I've ever worked for in regards to HOS compliance. And I say that in a complimentary tone. It was just another dig at trying to make us look bad.

3rd. It said that Crete had 400+ accidents in the years 2006-2008. Well, without knowing the details, that seem like a bad thing...I mean, if we only had a few hundred trucks on the road...that's a lot, except Crete (and it's companies) have between 4000-5000 trucks on the road, turning an average of 100,000+ miles a year.... if you do the math, even on the low side that's around 400 million miles per year, um...that's 1.2 billion miles in that 3 year period, and if you break that down... if it were even 400 accidents per year, instead of 3, that's around 1 accident per 100 million miles.... That's better then most trucking companies ever had. And of those 400+ accidents, how many were the fault of the Crete driver, and not the other vehicle involved? But again, it wasn't stated that way, it was printed as if all the accidents were caused by this company.

It was typical media bias that tries to make everything look negative instead of printing a balanced un-biased 'report' of the news, they slant it.

I wasn't bowing down to try to keep anything...

I have never seen anything mentioned about the mother of this family that was killed being held accountable for breaking the law...She has some blame in this case as well...but because a big truck for a big company with big dollar signs was involved, they found a bad guy. Had she left her kids at home unattended and went out on the town and something terrible happened like a fire or tornado that ended up killing them, she would have been hung out to dry...but because there is someone else to blame, she got off the hook...She, like this driver, made a mistake. And allowed her unlicensed, inexperienced child behind the wheel with a car load of her children...but she was not prosecuted because 'she has suffered enough'. What about how much suffering the driver and his family are going thru for his mistake? I mean, the worst nightmare any driver could face is being involved in a fatality crash, regardless of who's at fault, let alone knowing that you were the reason a whole family is gone, all because of a momentary lapse in judgment... I cannot imagine the torture that these families(on both sides) will have to live with for the rest of their lives.

As far as Crete caring... you are right, they are no better or worse in that area...but if I wanted someone to hold my hand and wipe my nose while I was doing my job, I wouldn't be a truck driver... The company isn't in the job of babysitting their drivers, they're in the inventory relocation business. They expect their drivers to be professional, and do their f'g job...which includes running safe and legal. They shouldn't have to follow their people around to see if they are doing their job properly every step of the way... this isn't 'W' or Swift... We are hired to do our job...not make friends with ops, not to sight see, not slack off like we're on vacation... we are hired to work and provide safe, reliable transportation of our customers merchandise. Those drivers that can't do this, need not apply here!

Sorry if I ranted a bit...If I didn't let some negativity out, I would have exploded. It's been a while since I had an outlet since things have been improving over here in Casa de Snackbar

Later...I need my beauty sleep...(and for those that have met me, you know what I'm talking about )